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Federal Emergency Management Agency Disburses Task Forces

Aired September 11, 2001 - 17:45 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: CNN correspondent Jeanne Meserve has spent the last several hours at Federal Emergency Management Agency. These are the people who, Jeanne, are dealing all the time with disasters. Bring us up to date on what is going on there now.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy. the National Inter agency Emergency Operation Center is up and running here as it is often at times of disaster. We went up and looked at that a couple of hours ago. There are about 40 people up there. They represent 28 different government agencies and offices, also the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

What they do is try to figure out what local and state officials need to help them deal with a disaster situation and they have already made some moves today. They have dispatched urban search and rescue task forces. Four have been sent to the Pentagon, four are en route to New York City. Another four have been activated, three of those in California, one in Missouri. The last time I was able to speak to an official here they were trying to figure out how to get them to New York City. Apparently it was going to take a military airlift because of course there is no commercial air traffic at this time.

Each of those task forces consists of 62 people, and about 60,000 pounds of equipment, that is medical gear, tools, dogs, food. The idea is they are supposed to be able to be self-sufficient for 72 hours at a stretch. They provide a wide array of services. They will do search and rescue. They can shut off utilizes. They can check the structural integrity of buildings. There are a total of 28 of these task forces around the country.

We have been told that the other 16 have been out on alert status, but they have not yet been activated and given orders to move. In addition, disaster mortuary affairs teams, four of them have been sent to New York City, three to the Pentagon. There are 30 people on each of these teams. They help take care of the bodies after they have been extricated from the wreckage. Also there are disaster medical assistant teams -- four to New York, three to the Pentagon, 35 people on each of those teams. Those would be doctors, nurses and paramedics to help of course with the medical situation.

I should mention that the director of this agency, Joe Allbaugh, was not in Washington when these events took place. He was at Montana at a conference of the National Emergency Managers Conference. This is all the state emergency directors from around the country. He of course immediately made moves to get back to Washington. We believe he is now on his way here. Judy, back to you.

WOODRUFF: All right, Jeanne Meserve, telling us about the teams of experienced people who are being deployed from FEMA, that is the nickname for the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquartered here in Washington.

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